Government access to data; pros and cons

Governments are interested in getting access to our data for many reasons. The truth of the matter is that no matter how much we detest governments having access to our data, they will always find a way to do that especially when there is necessity for it.

Having access to our data could help the government to fight crime to some extent. Many criminal activities are planned on the internet. When there is a report of crime, the first thing that the investigators do is to check the communication history of the persons involved. The chat history and the entire internet activities. This is very important for law enforcement in society.

As good as this may appear, the government has more motives in getting access to our data. In most places in the world, especially in Nigeria, governments don't like their policies being criticized. They always go after some well known critics. They do this successfully when they track such people using their data. I have read a lot about many instances. The freedom of speech of many people had been trampled upon because of unfair treatment from the government. Many critics have been tracked using their data.

Unfettered access of the government to our data has resulted in infringement of our rights to be in the increase. The government wants to stifle the freedom of the people and they can go to any length to see it happen.

Aside from the government, having our data in the hands of the public can cause many damages. Some criminals makes use of this to cause havoc and pain to their victims.

About two weeks ago, a colleague chatted me on a popular web2 chatting medium. She requested me to assist her because she was facing a challenge. According to her, she was trying to send 75000 Naira to someone but his bank application wss not functional. She asked me to send the money to the person to whom she provided his account details. I nearly sent the money because the woman is a reserved and disciplined person. My instinct told me to call the woman and confirm the request. I was surprised when I called her only to find out that her account had been hacked. The hackers were in total control of his social media account while she was using the same phone number that she used to open the account freely.

This experience made it clear to me that when a criminal hacks into one's data, the results could be catastrophic.

I do receive some suspicious links. Some of which can endanger my data if I click on them.

My position is that data privacy should be absolute. One's data should be properly fortified against both known and unknown intruders. Whenever the government has a genuine reason to make use of one's data, the legal aspect of it should be strictly adhered to. There should be a court paper to that effect, dictating the level of intrusion into the data.

Data protection is very vital in guiding human rights against abuse.